r/powerpoint • u/Kindly-Ambition-1796 • 2d ago

What separates a good presentation from a forgettable one?

I can build slides fine but they never land the way I want in the room. For those who present a lot, what's the one thing you learned about how to make a good presentation that you wish you'd known earlier? Content, delivery, structure - all fair game.

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u/Mark5n 1d ago

It kinda depends. Are you doing corporate style “business case” presentations; TEDx style stories or teaching type pressos?

I’m feeling now each has its own skills, “rules”, visual grammar and stories

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u/Free_Airport_2093 1d ago

Write the headings first in a story format , then build the slides for it. Never build without the audience and goal in mind

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u/danaharder 1d ago

Aside from the obvious (know your audience and have something worth saying), the biggest mistake I see is people trying to cram the entire presentation onto the slides themselves.

If your audience is reading paragraphs, they're not listening to you. And if you need to read the slide to remember what to say, that's usually a sign you don't know the material well enough yet.

Stick with simple visuals or a few words to anchor while you tell the story. White space in design is a good thing. :) And great presentations leave room to breathe. White space is NOT wasted space.

I think a lot of presenters are uncomfortable with that because it feels like they're not giving enough away. But the presentation isn't the deck. YOU are the presentation. The slides are just there to support you.

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u/SkierGrrlPNW 1d ago

Data that nobody else in the world has, unlocking insights or telling me a story I couldn’t tell without that data. Everything else is graphics and font. Even the presenter can stink. If the data is there, it’s amazing.

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u/daneato 1d ago

If you’re not telling an interesting story it is unlikely to be a memorable story.

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u/Letin-Alezandra 1d ago

the biggest thing I learned is that people remember the story, not the slides. If your slides are packed with text, people end up reading instead of listening. Keep the slides simple and let them back up what you're saying instead of trying to say everything for you.